Palestine: repatriation of Palestine refugees and payment of compensation due to them. Includes Moshe Sharett's words. (para. 14, 47-50)

Moshe Sharett’s Words para 47-49

Mr. SHARETT (Israel) thought that the procedural debate which had just taken place clearly showed how utterly artificial and impracticable it was to separate the two aspects of the problem. The delegation of Israel had always affirmed that the urgent problem of the refugees could be fully solved only within the framework of a comprehensive and lasting peace settlement. Other representatives had claimed during the meeting that the refugee question should be solved separately first, before any negotiations for a peace settlement were embarked upon.

The Committee had thus been dragged into a vicious circle. In order to escape from the situation, the Committee must adopt only texts drafted with the greatest care, for, if two distinct resolutions were adopted by the same organ — the General Assembly — each party would be able to insist that the resolution which better answered his requirements had priority over the other. Confusion would thus be complete.

The interests of the refugees made it essential that the two aspects of the problem should not be separated. The delegation of Israel had no intention of appealing against the Chairman’s decision with regard to the Committee’s order of work; however, since it had been agreed to examine... that part of the Conciliation Commission’s report dealing with the refugee question, the delegation of Israel felt that it was authorized to refer to the intervention of the Conciliation Commission in that matter. He quoted paragraph 11 of the supplementary report of the Conciliation Commission  which said, inter alia, that the General Assembly should urge the parties to engage without delay in direct negotiations and that in those negotiations priority should be given to a consideration of the refugee question.